Mixed Race in America

"The study finds that 8.4 percent of all current U.S. marriages are interracial, up from 3.2 percent in 1980. While Hispanics and Asians remained the most likely, as in previous decades, to marry someone of a different race, the biggest jump in share since 2008 occurred among blacks, who historically have been the most segregated.

States in the West where Asian and Hispanic immigrants are more numerous, including Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and California, were among the most likely to have couples who "marry out" - more than 1 in 5. The West was followed by the South, Northeast and Midwest. By state, mostly white Vermont had the lowest rate of intermarriage, at 4 percent.

In all, more than 15 percent of new marriages in 2010 were interracial."  NY Daily News

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Good.  Race in its sexual dimensions has always lurked in the background as one of the great "dividers" in America.  IMO Yankees are actually more uptight about it than Southerners.  There used to be a lot of people of mixed Black/White descent in the South, especially in the cities.  When I was doing societal research for "Strike the Tent," I frequently saw women who were quite dark looking at records in which there were photographs of light skinned people.  When asked they often said that these were their ancestors.  The circumstances that led to many mixed race pregnancies died out in the 20th century.  Some really light skinned people simply "went white" like Dinah Shore.  Others reproduced with darker people and the whole populaton tended to get darker in the African-American world. 

Now the tide is running in the other direction.  IMO the American of the future is going to look a lot like Soledad O'brien and Harold Ford.  Good!  pl

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/interracial-marriages-u-s-hit-all-time-high-4-8-million-article-1.1023643?localLinksEnabled=false

Comments

[bt]

"Now the tide is running in the other direction. IMO the American of the future is going to look a lot like Soledad O'brien and Harold Ford"

Not to mention Mr. Obama...

[jonst]

look like them, fine. Think like them, I'm not so hot on. That is a subjective take, granted.

[Pirouz]

I'm one of those: Iranian on one side, and Native American on the other.

Have to say, Colonel, some of those Persians can get pretty uppity. Native Americans, on the other hand, are down to earth people.

Hope you're feeling better, sir.

[turcopolier]

jonst

I was suggesting that in addition to all the rest, the future American will be more Harold Ford's color than Obama's. pl

[Agincajun]

Good post. The history of Naw'lins is an interesting study. Sadly the attitudes have swung back and forth over the past 200 plus years. Jackson might not have been successful in his defense of the city, had it not been for the threat that Jean's shallow-draft, highly maneuverable sloops presented to the Brit Fleet. Based on that threat, the Brit Admiral thought it ill-advised to move up the river and provide artillery support for the invasion. Jean, was most likely Caribbean Creole. Many of his men (if not most) were of mixed racial heritage. The significance of their contribution IMO has been intentionally minimized by some historians. The same can be said concerning those of mixed ancestry who contributed socially, economically, intellectually and artistically to what made Naw'lins so unique.

[William R. Cumming]

Warren Beatty and Halle Berry stared in a movie enjoyed by many including me called "BULLWORTH"! DNA studies including the amazing figure of 16 million with DNA from the court of Ghengis Khan seems to indicate that the eugenics of racial purity is unlikely to rear its head again. Cultural differences and ethnic differences more likely to continue for several centuries more. While several new studies of Neandertal and another group indicated some occupation during a common past with HOMO SAPIENS the remarkable finding that perhaps that latter group once numbered well under 20K indicates that "our" time on planet earth should never be taken as a given. With almost 12% of earthlings with Asiatic heritage this looking like it may well increase. 9B predicted for the planet by end of the Century or well before.

And in many countries President Obama--the 50/50 man would be considered White not Black.

[Ramojus]

A friend of mine, from Tennessee, told me that Southerners called it the "woodshed effect". Not sure if this is considered offensive to anyone. If it is... my apologies in advance.

As a native of Chicago of European decent, I have always found women of mixed racial parentage to be most attractive.

I didn't know about Dinah Shore!

[turcopolier]

Ramojus

My fiction is filled with such people. People are people. I was walking around the A-Ring (in the Pentagon, tompaine, in Washington) with Mike Totten, a member of the illustrious US Army Totten family. The Tottens and the Pattons are married in every generation since Valley Forge. One was quartermaster General of the Continental Army, another had the same job under Grant, etc. A cute woman lieutenant was walking the other way deep in a whispered talk with a big, old "full bull," Someone will explain, Tompaine. Mike's grandpa and mine soldiered together. Mike laughed and said that civilians and others not of the cognoscenti would think that she was asking for career counseling, but what she was really saying was "God Damn It, Bill, I'm pregnant. What are you going to do about it?" We laughed like hell secure in the lore of our village and the probable truth of the thing." Heh. Heh. pl

[Dan84]

Col, that is simply not possible. Caucasian genes are recessive. You will need at least 4 generation of back-to-back interracial marriage between a 100% full blooded Caucasian and an African to lighten up the color of an average black man to Harold Ford's color. That means you'll need a steady supply of white genes going at a rate of 4/1 to make this happen over 4 generations. At some point, you'll just run out of white people for the project.

That's why the racial composition of most race mixed countries are much more like Brazil, Dominican Republic, etc, than what you have in mind. Not that there is anything wrong with those counties, but it's worth noting that a nasty strain of racism runs deep in those countries.

[CTuttle]

One thing I truly love about the Hawaiian Isles is all the lovely wahine walking around...! ;-)

[Mike Martin, Yorktown, VA]

There's a group called "Melungeons" found in the part of the Appalachians where KY, VA & TN meet. Sometimes referred to by sociologists as "tri-racial isolates", they're thought to be a mix of African, American Indian and European. The European component is generally assumed to be Turkish, Greek or Portuguese, descended from slaves brought to what is now the southeastern U.S. by the Spanish, going back to De Soto's expeditions.

Couple of links:

http://www.whatisamelungeon.webs.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon

[The Twisted Genius]

CTuttle, I hear ya braddah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBYDoH8NyQ0

And for the keiki:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI8TQoFWmNg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL033428F21EEC538B

[jonst]

they are neoliberal birds of a feather Col....as Lee J Cobb said, in the climatic scene in On the Waterfront, with regard to Brando's character....'ya want em...ya can have em'.

[Spafford]

This youthful decade is much different than the decades of my youth in many ways. I am very proud of my 3 adult children's acceptance of "diversity". All were raised from birth in a very "white" rural area in No Michigan, but have gone on to engage life with wonderful mates of very different origins. As adults my oldest son was married for 5 yrs to a brilliant co-ed from Mexico City. My youngest son is married to a gal from China he met on an island off the coast of Belize (they have my 5 yr old grandson). My daughter's "significant other" is a young man from Guatemala, a teacher in Oregon. The "browning" of America is coming on fast! I am so very proud of my offspring.

[Russ]

Hi Pat,
Going way back, I believe one of Totten's ancestors designed nearby Fort Adams and other East Coast forts of similar design. And there was a Fort Totten we passed on the way to CIA. Of Civil War vintage I think.
Regards,
Russ

[optimax]

I didn't know Dinah Shore was mixed race, Kirk Douglas was jewish or Libarace gay. I'm shocked.

Interracial couples are common in Portland. There was a time when blacks were barred from moving into the state. Sometimes progress happens.

[robt willmann]

Here is a collection of photographs of black men, many who are known to the public, with women outside of their race, in a website with the provocative name of afieldnegro.com--

http://www.afieldnegro.com/photos.html

[Redhand]

"Some really light skinned people simply 'went white' like Dinah Shore."

What?! First time I ever heard this. Multiple internet sites say she was "Born to Solomon and Anna Stein Shore, Jewish immigrants from Russia." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah_Shore and http://www.dinahshorefanclub.com/dsbio.htm among others.

Do you know something they don't? Or, are you trying to say ole Dinah was the epitome of "whiteness"?

Times change. I am reminded of the female character in "Showboat" who "passed as white."

[William R. Cumming]

SCOTUS decision in Loving v. Loving involved two "Issues" from Virginia. White, Black, and Native American combo present in the Northern Neck of VA where I live.

[Charles Dekle]

There is a Fort Totten DC Metro Rail Stop. It is one terminus of the Yellow line and an intersection for the Red and Green lines. Now I know the origin. Although it seems to also be one of those stops where the elevators are out of order. :-)

[mac n.]

Good Morning Colonel,

Could not agree with you more. Racial deconstruction, as it were. My daughter's gene pool is a mix of Yaqui, a Native American tribe who originally lived in the valley of the Río Yaqui in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and Persian/Azeri/Russian. She is so beautiful :)

Although I cannot properly explain why, this quality of mixed DNA is one of strongest qualities of the American creed and truly sets us apart from other nations.

Aint' this a grand ol' country?

Mac N.

[steve g]

In the 60's there was a "rumor"
going around that George Montgomery
divorced her because their child was
colored or dark at birth. I remember
it well having been raised on the Dinah
Shore Show. The wiki entry said they
divorced 15 years later so obviously
this was false. The stigma of inter-
racial dating or marriage sometimes
resulted in ostracism from family
and career.

[turcopolier]

Ramojus et al

Bill White in STT is arguable the best man in th ebook. This is kinda like "Jim" in Huck Finn.

Mike Totten and I were at least notional competitors for whatever it was that neither of us particularly cared about in terms of rank, etc. He was from my village through and through. He told me once that he reckoned that every janitor's closet in the Pentagon had been screwed in by someone, sometime. Only the senior people have couches "en suite." Now the lobsterbacks run the Army. pl

[turcopolier]

Redhand

She was a lovely woman. Burt Reynolds was an idiot. pl

[Roy G.]

Culture mixing is probably a more accurate term. As my Arabic wife often reminds me, Arabs are Caucasians too. In the past 10 years, (most of) our friends and family have learned from her and her family, and now have a greater understanding and familiarity with a part of Arab culture, rather than seeing them as part of the Other. Of course, as Col. Lang and others here can attest, food is often the bridge!